sábado, 13 de febrero de 2016

Cuba and the Phantom of the Internet

Cuba and the Phantom of the Internet / Jeovany Jimenez Vega
Posted on February 11, 2016

Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 26 January 2016 — A ghost is haunting Cuba: the
phantom of the Internet. All the forces of the old guard have joined in
a holy crusade against that spectre: the Castros and Ramiro Valdes*, the
censor, before 'Furry' Colomé Ibarra and now Fernández Gondín**, the
radical communists and all the opportunistic cops … Thus begins the
Manifesto of the Internet for the Cuban people, placed at a horizon so
far away that it's as elusive as everything else concerning connection
to the outside world.

Walking through any park in Guayaquil, Ecuador, at every Metro stop, in
many cafes and shops, in every mall, and at every corner, I find at each
step an announcement of a free Wi-fi signal, and my thoughts fly to my
closed little island.

Internet censorship in Cuba is a subject that has been brought up so
many times it now stinks. The amply demonstrated reluctance of the Cuban
Government to cede a bit of ground in its information monopoly has ended
up putting our country at the bottom of the index of connectivity on the
whole American continent, and in the select group of those who are
behind globally.

I'm bringing up the trite question again on this page, before the news
that the representatives of both governments of Cuba and the U.S. have
sat down to talk about the subject in recent days, as part of the thaw
fostered after 17 December 2014 by the Obama administration and accepted
by Raúl Castro, but only because Venezuelan President Maduro's boat is
going under.

But I certainly heard nothing new. "The blockade prevents the financing
of any United States project to enlarge the infrastructure; it would be
precisely to democratize the administration of the global network; that
if cyber-security, that if the solar storms or the rings of Saturn" —
whatever excuse the censors could use to delay our right to
unconditional access to the world highway.

Surely nothing was mentioned by the Cubans at this meeting about the
three-quarters of the Venezuelan submarine cable that remained,
deliberately, without exploiting its potential for almost a decade, and
they dissimulated or evaded when any allusion was made to concrete
proposals, on more than one occasion, by U.S. businesses to make
investments in the island, which, in the short term, would make Internet
service accessible for the average Cuban and would ostensibly improve
telephone service.

Before every proposal by the U.S. or any other country on the matter,
the Cubans have followed their usual strategy: find a problem for every
solution. On this rough point the dictatorship has its eyes fixed on its
only intent: maintaining, at all cost, until its last breath, the most
absolutely possible iron control of information. Thus every U.S.
proposal came up against this primordial interest, since the
dictatorship knows that censorship is a vital matter.

When I walk through the streets of Guayaquil and see at every step
announcements of a free Wi-fi signal offered by the city, and the
posters from cyber cafes inviting you to use the Internet at a
comfortable speed and without restrictions, for U.S.$1.00 for three
hours of connection (!), and I see on every roof a parabolic antenna or
a coaxial cable, I can't help but contrast this reality with the Cuban
government's cynical policy and ETECSA's*** monopoly on "free" Wi-fi
service at selected points in drips and drabs.

They all have something in common: you pay $2.00 CUC (more than U.S.
$2.00) for an hour with a very slow connection, in a country with an
average monthly salary between U.S. $15 and $20. You get connected from
a navigation room, outdoors in a park, or "accommodated" under the sun
on a sidewalk, but never from your home, since such a service is
available only for the Regime's acolytes, and you always have to show
your identification and personal data when you enter.

Furthermore, you should know that every click of the keyboard or every
site you visit will be spied on, and you will find that all the sites
that are inconvenient to the Government have been zealously censored.

For my part, beyond the fact that my blog, Citizen Zero, is not approved
in Cuba — I didn't have the occasion to try the "superb" Wi-fi service
or ETECSA's navigation room — I will never forgive the satraps of Havana
who, by their cojones (balls), vetoed something as simple as a
video-conference with my children. This is something that hurts and
offends, and converts my conflict with the dictatorship into something
personal.

As for their policy, however, there is inescapable evidence to take into
account, which is the essential and last cause of the problem: the
uncontainable and absolute terror of the Cuban dictatorship before the
unsubmissive truths poured out on the Web, which it hides them from the
Cuban people because the despots who dis-govern depend on this
censorship to perpetuate their power. The Cuban dictatorship's dilemma
is as simple as that. This "menace" makes them lose sleep.

Translator's notes:

*He defended Internet restrictions, saying, "The wild colt of new
technologies can and must be controlled."

**The old and new Ministers of the Interior.

*** La Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A., Cuba's one
telecommunications company.

Translated by: Marlena (PL) and Regina Anavy

Source: Cuba and the Phantom of the Internet / Jeovany Jimenez Vega |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-and-the-phantom-of-the-internet-jeovany-jimenez-vega/

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